The side tabs ('panels' in Rhino speak)change depending on the active rendering plugin. If you toggle your current renderer to Rhino Render in the Render drop down menu>current renderer, you'll then have the option to display a Material Panel by right clicking any existing Panel name tab. Vray uses it's own controls for materials and environments.

Man I was trying to figure it out for such a long time, and I finally realised (just before your reply) that yes, you were using the Rhino render... Sorry I automatically assumed it was a vray render tutorial and thought there was something wrong with my rhino. It all makes so much more sense... My mistake, thanks for your reply.

Render Tools is a toolbar group in Rhino 5 for Windows. Check that this is the version you are using and then make sure you can see all the toolbar tabs. Depending on the screen resolution, these may be out of view requiring you to click the >> symbol to the right of the main toolbar group.

same question as above really - i am using rhino v5 on a mac. I can't however see the panels (i can only see the toolbar which appears when i click the rectangle on the right (the one which turns blue when i click on it), but right clicking on any part of this seems to do nothing) I am on 'rhino renderer'. Any advice as to how to get the panels up?

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